Category: Ontario

Going Local with iYellow Wine Club

Untitled
The iYellow Wine Club goes local
Photo by iYellow Wine Club
Fall has officially arrived. The weather seems to have changed appropriately on schedule. This is an exciting time – back to school, back to work…back to routine. More importantly, it’s harvest!

Looking back to the lazy days of summer, my thoughts take me to Sunday August 12th as 44 eager iYellow Wine Club members borded a bus in downtown Toronto to escape to beautiful Niagara wine country.  Having recently returned from a whirlwind trip throughout Burgundy and the south of France, I was due to head to another wine destination, even just for a day.

Barrel cellar at
Chateau des Charmes

Tasting room at
Southbrook

Some are still surprised when they learn that wine is even produced in Ontario.  Not only is wine produced here, it’s pretty darn delicious. This is a flourishing industry that is continuously growing every year and the wines are gaining more acclaim locally and abroad. Cool climate grape varieties such as riesling, chardonnay, and pinot noir being the most celebrated.  You can’t expect to be tasting a wine that’s identical to a wine from another place in the world. Similar? Reminiscent? Sure. You are tasting Ontario and the “typicity” of its terroir. I recently read an article by John Szabo and he made great points about how we should be looking for wines that are typical to a region. He used the word “typicity” throughout and I put a lot of thought into that one word. Ontario is not California. Nor is it New Zealand or Germany. Ontario is…well, Ontario. What’s that song that we always hear on tv: “Good things grow, in On-ta-rio”.

The iYellow tour was co-hosted by Taylor Thompson, wine director for the Toronto Ritz Carlton. He offered a great dose of entertainment mixed with information. Learning can be fun! The day’s activities, other than the funny commentary between Angela Aiello and Taylor, included a tour and tasting at 3 wineries, lunch, and some good ol’ fashioned field trip shenanigans.

Sheltered from the rain
Vines at Vineland

These tours are a terrific way to be introduced (or re-acquainted) to the region. Not only are you driven around all day, lunch is provided and you are essentially treated to VIP tastings at each winery. It takes the pressure off trying to plan your own excursion, especially if you’ve never been to the area.  I love hopping on a bus and letting the day unfold. It kind of reminds me of school field trips, just more fun and with alcohol (oops, I didn’t say that).

The “iYellow Loves Local” fall tour schedule:

Sheep at Southbrook
Hey Stu – yeah I’m talkin’ to you!

Saturday September 29th
Saturday October 13th
Saturday October 20th

For more information and to purchase tickets:
www.iyellowwineclub.com

Vineland Estates
production area

Our first stop was at Vineland Estates. The tasting, led by Taylor himself, was held inside the production area. A delicious boxed lunch was provided afterwards after our salivary glads were sufficiently lubricated. This was no ordinary boxed lunch – it was deliciously on the gourmet side and we were allowed to eat it anywhere on the grounds. We grabbed some leftover bottles from the tasting and headed outside to enjoy our meal next to the vines. If you’re ever at Vineland, do plan to eat at the restaurant. If the boxed lunches were any indication of the quality of the restaurant, you won’t be disappointed. It has a great reputation among both visitors and locals. The most talked about wine of the tasting was the 2009 St. Urban Riesling. The 2011 Elevation St. Urban Riesling is now available in stores. www.vineland.com

Michelle Bosc and the
iYellow group in the
barrel cellar
Chateau des Charmes
Pinot Noir 2010

Our next destination was Chateau des Charmes where Michelle Bosc herself was the guide. After a sparkling wine reception, we were taken out into the vineyards and into the production facility. Even though the rain had decided to make an appearance, it didn’t last long and by late afternoon, the sun was back out shining. My favourites of the tasting were the 2010 Pinot Noir and the 2010 Equuleus. The Equuleus is a wine of structure. Only created in the best of years, it is a Bordelaise blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot. The Pinot Noir highlighted the wonderful qualities that can arise from cooler-climate vineyards. www.chateaudescharmes.com



A short clip with Michelle Bosc, whose family owns and operates Chateau des Charmes.
In this video she explains why Ontario can successfully grow grape for wine production.

Angela Aiello discussing
with owner of Southbrook,
Bill Redelmeir

The final stop was Southbrook Vineyards.

2011 Triomphe
Cabernet Franc
Rose

Small in size, it’s Canada’s largest organic and biodynamic winery. It doesn’t use synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizer, or genetic modification. Think of biodynamics as extreme organic practices that are on the mystical side. The winery itself is an interesting piece of architecture. You can’t miss it as you drive along the main road into the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Bill Redelmeir, owner of Southbrook, took us out into the vineyards to talk about biodynamics and how this viticulture practice translates into the wines. One such example is the use of sheep on the property. Their waste, as they munch away on the vine foliage, is used as fertilizer. There must be something to this alternative form of agriculture because the wines were really enjoyable. www.southbrook.com



Bill Redelmeir explaining biodynamics and the sheep named Stu.
www.southbrook.com/biodynamics

Join the conversation!

The LCBO has recently launched a campaign to promote local wines with the slogan “People are Talking“. A highly visual website, with a large focus on social media, was launched a few weeks ago. www.lcbogolocal.com

Chateau des Charmes
Equuleus 2009

Join the conversation and share some of your favourite Ontario wines on Twitter with the hashtags #lcbogolocal and #vqa.

This release of Vintages magazine features the wines of Ontario. If you haven’t picked up a copy of the free bi-weekly publication, you can pick one up at your local LCBO or view it online: www.vintages.com

Southbrook Whimsy!
2010 Chardonnay

To showcase all that Ontario has to offer, Spotlight Toronto is doing a feature called “30 Days of Ontario Wine”:
www.spotlighttoronto.com/30daysonwine2012

Tomorrow morning I’m putting my stamp on harvest 2012. I’m headed back out to FlatRock Cellars to help out with the sorting of riesling that are to be harvested.

Watch out grapes – I’m coming for you.

Adventures in bottling

Wanting to gain some real-life production experience at a winery, I approached Ed Madronich, owner of Flat Rock Cellars, to see if there was a possibility of helping out. I had a hankering to do some character-building hard labour. Lucky for me, Ed was for it.  Ross Wise, Flat Rock’s talented winemaker from New Zealand contacted me and voila, I had my first assignment: bottling.

Through the cellar door

On a warm spring May morning, I somehow managed to get myself out of bed at 5:30am (ugh, so early!).  Upon a *slightly* late arrival to the winery, I noticed the mobile truck hard at work bottling the 2011 Nadja’s Vineyard Riesling. Fully automated, I watched bottle after bottle get sterilized, filled with wine, sealed, labeled and boxed. Just like that! Many wineries use a mobile bottling service to cut down on costs. This particular truck bottled for Le Clos Jordanne the day before.

Pumping wine from tank
to the mobile bottling truck

I didn’t know what to expect seeing how I’ve never worked in a winery. Images of bottles flying off of the line, smashing all over the place with me crying and then banned from ever coming back rolled through my mind.  My job for the day was to help with the bottling of the 2011 cuvee. The wine would be laid down for a duration of time to conduct a second fermentation. The result? Sparkling wine.

An example of gyropalettes
These ones are in Champagne
http://www.champagne-heucq.com

The crew for the day was small in number but mighty in force. Greg, the assistant winemaker, let me pour a bucket of yeast, sugar and other nutrients into one of the large steel tanks. Crawling up a tall ladder, I poured the the mixture in and hoped for the best!  The trick now was to get the wine thoroughly mixed with the additions and quickly into bottle, before the start of any fermentation.

Arranging the bottles just right 

Sparkling wine is all about gas (insert your jokes here). To create “traditional method” bubbly (similar to how they do it in Champagne), base wine is placed into strong bottles with some sugar, yeast and then sealed.  The yeast consume the sugar and in the process, create gas. That gas can’t escape so it remains trapped inside the bottle. Once the yeast die (no more sugar to eat), the wine and sediment interact with one another, creating those complex aromas and flavours of baked bread and apple. No one wants to see dead yeast sediment inside the bottle. That wouldn’t be appealing since sparkling wine is all about fine bubbles and clarity. The bottles are slowly turned until they are standing upside down, with the sediment trapped inside the neck of the bottle. This process of turning the bottles, called riddling, used to be done by hand. Now it’s mostly done by a machine called a gyropalette. The bottlenecks are then frozen and opened under pressure. The yeast sediment is taken out and the bottles are topped off with more wine and a bit of sugar which determines the overall sweetness.

Images of Laverne & Shirley
came to mind during the day
Skid after skid of empty bottles
to be filled with wine

Even though most of the core bottling procedures were automated, there remained  a few tasks that required more manual labour.  I began my shift at the end of the line by filling the large metal cages with sealed bottles. These metal cages were to be transferred to a facility to go onto the gyropalettes. I then moved to the beginning of the line, placing empty bottles onto the conveyor belt. I thought those skids would never stop coming! Skid after skid, we had to make sure that bottles were continuously being fed into the machine. The  wine was coming – whether a bottle was there or not. I then moved to middle of the line, the point that I coined as “Laverne and Shirley”. The now sealed bottles had to be placed into bins and push them down to the guys who were loading up the cages. Bottles just kept coming at me with no end in sight! I was afraid to look away even for a split second in fear that bottles would crash with eachother and fall to the ground. Well, not really but it does add a dramatic flair. The conveyor belt doesn’t move that fast but you still have to keep up!

The fruits of our labour!
10,850 bottles 

By the end of the afternoon, we had 10,850 bottles of the 2011 cuvee. Amazing! I didn’t know what that even looked like so I took photos to catalog the achievement. The base wine was 100% Chardonnay that had been aged in neutral barrels. Most of the wine was from 2011 with a small percentage from 2010.  Cuvee in this case means a blend of grapes from different vintages. Now we wait for a few years for the bubbles to form.  I can’t wait to taste one of these bottles that I had a *very* small part in creating.

Completely exhausted, I finally understood why people say that that bottling isn’t  fun. It can be grueling hard work but an important part of the entire winemaking process.  Unless we’re all prepared to show up at a winery with straws for direct slurping (which I totally am), bottling is just one of those unavoidable necessities. My co-workers thought that I had gone completely mad to have taken a vacation day to do more work! Even with the incredible muscle soreness I endured afterwards, I would do it again in a heart beat.

One by one…

For my efforts, I was given a few bottles of the 2011 Nadja’s Riesling bottled that morning. I was instructed to let it sit for a few months so the wine could recover from bottle shock.  A nice wine to enjoy over the summer.

2011 Nadja’s Vineyard
Riesling

It was a pleasure to have been welcomed into the Flat Rock family even for the one day. Thanks Ross! Thanks Ed! Hopefully there will be more opportunities in the future. I’d love to continue with these posts, highlighting the various stages of getting that wine from the vineyard into your glass.

Go visit Flat Rock Cellars and discover how well cool-climate varieties such as Riesling and Pinot Noir thrive here in Ontario: www.flatrockcellars.com

Feel like getting your hands dirty? Flat Rock offers a fun program called “In the Winemaker’s Boots”: www.flatrockcellars.com/pages/visit/winemaker

Example of bottling
Hunter Bottling Line (YouTube)

Grape Growers of Ontario – Trevor Falk

Let’s meet the next grape grower who grows the wine we love! This is Trevor Falk. He is a grower from Niagara-on-the lake.

Trevor Falk, Ontario grape grower

“You might say that wine runs in my blood. In the 1930’s, my grandfather was one of the first farmers to recognize the Niagara region’s grape-growing potential and in the 1970’s, my parents became pioneers in the industry. Even as a boy, I looked forward to the day I’d take over the family operation, and I’ve already got plans for the 4th generation of Falks”.  – Trevor Falk, Ontario grape grower

4th generation in the making!
How cute is this little guy!

In the video Trevor gives us a small glimpse of a typical day during harvest.  I know that sometimes people romanticize harvest and what fun it must be to gather the fruits of the vine’s labour. I know I do!   I always forget that harvest is downright dirty hard work along with long hours. Trevor mentions how he used to help with hand harvesting when he was younger. With the advance in technology of mechanical harvesters, what used to take days to complete, can now be finished in hours.

What’s the difference between hand and mechanized harvesting?

Hand
Picking by hand is expensive and to harvest an entire vineyard can take days. However, having that human contact, the grapes can be more scrutinized. Rotten or unripe clusters can be excluded and “MOG” can be further reduced. MOG stands for material other than grapes such as leaves, twigs…bugs…animals…well, you get the point. Picking by hand is much gentler on the fruit so there is less of a chance that the grapes will get damaged. If the grapes break open, they’re exposed to air and yeast. This is a big problem because it causes oxidation and premature fermentation.

Machine
Mechanical harvesters move above vines and gently vibrate them so that the grapes are separated from their stems. This process must be a gentle one because you don’t want to ruin the vines in the process. You also don’t want to have “MOG” mixed in with the picked grapes. That’ll just create more sorting work once the bins reach the winery.A machine can generally pick about 5 tons of grapes per hour. That’s a lot. That’s a lot more than hand pickers! Speed is the greatest asset of a machine harvester. It can gather the fruit and have it brought to the winery right away. This brings down the cost for producing the finished wine but it can also save a harvest if extreme weather conditions threaten the harvest and the fruit needs to come in quickly. Harvesting by machine can also be done at night while the temperatures are cooler which preserves the fruit.

We always hear how high quality wines are associated with hand harvesting. However, more and more producers are switching to either mechanical harvesting or a combination of the two. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

To read more about Trevor Falk:
www.grapegrowersofontario.com

Let’s support our local growers by continuing to drink local wine! Go Local! 🙂

The Grape Growers of Ontario have been featuring different growers during key points of the grape growing season.

Early spring with Prince Edward Country grower, Debra Marshall
www.theyummygrape.com/2011/07/grape-growers-of-ontario.html

Discovery berry formation with the Funks in St. Catherines
www.theyummygrape.com/2011/08/grape-growers-of-ontario-funk-family.html

Verasion in Niagara-on-the-Lake with Kevin Watson
www.theyummygrape.com/2011/09/grape-growers-of-ontario-watsons.html

Beginning of harvest with the Mitchell family of Lake Erie North Shore
www.theyummygrape.com/2011/11/grape-growers-of-ontario-mitchells.html

Meet Ontario grape growers on facebook.com/grapegrowersofontario

Grape Growers of Ontario – The Mitchells

Gord Mitchell

Continuing our discovery of Ontario grape growers, this video introduces us to Gord Mitchell and his daughter, Tanya. I’m very sad to say that as I was starting this article on the Mitchells, I learned that Gord passed away suddenly last week on Sunday November 6th at the age of 66. My deepest condolences to the Mitchell family.

Gord and Tanya Mitchell

The Mitchells own Sprucewood Shores Winery in Harrow, Ontario. This is located in the appellation known as Lake Erie North Shore. I have to admit in that I’ve haven’t visited this region yet but it is on my list of places to visit!

www.sprucewoodshores.com
Ontario has four major wine appellations, each with their own unique characteristics:

The Niagara Peninsula
Prince Edward County
Lake Erie North Shore
Pelee Island
Situated in one of the most southern parts of Ontario, vineyards of Lake Erie North Shore have plenty of sunshine. This long growing season allows the fruit to ripen well. The cool lake breezes off the shallow waters of Lake Erie ensure that grapes retain that delicate balance between sweetness and acidity. The region has twelve wineries specializing in Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.
In the video Gord discusses how the production of wine truly starts in the vineyard. Good wine comes from ripe, quality fruit. Winemaking is an art and it all starts on the vine itself. One can certainly do scientific analysis on the grapes but it doesn’t compare to tasting those grapes to really see where they’re at. Gord mentions that he and his wife started the vineyard twenty years ago and how Ontario has it’s own unique climate, soil and people. He enjoys the rich, lush Cabernet Franc that comes from Ontario.  As I watch this video, I can’t help but feel so sad at the passing of Gord Mitchell. I believe that Lake Erie South Shore has truly lost a key player in their local wine industry and a strong advocate of the Ontario industry as a whole.

Let’s Go Local

A few days ago someone said to me: “Ontario makes wine? I didn’t know that.”

Enjoying a glass local flavour in the
Jackson Triggs vineyard.
Go Local everyone!

I’m used to people from other countries being surprised when I tell them that Canada has a flourishing wine industry. The common statement I hear is “Isn’t Canada too cold to make wine?” Bless their hearts. They also think that Vancouver is a short car ride from Toronto, failing to realize how vast and diverse this country actually is that we live in.  I suddenly became very excited to introduce this person to our wonderful wine industry.  I’m sure that they weren’t prepared for my long detailed information session. It’s a good thing we were in a small confined space. 🙂

iYellow supports Ontario wine!
I’m very pleased that the LCBO is doing the Go Local campaign. Ontario wines have had a stigma associated with them for a long time, as not being very good. This is so not true! Fortunately this misconception is disappearing from public opinion. We’re lucky to have so many wines from around the world available to us but even luckier knowing that we too make world class wine right here in Ontario. Finally there’s a much needed push to promote and support our local talent. From grape growers to wine makers. If you go to California, you’re encouraged to drink Californian wine. If you go to France, you will no doubt have mostly French wines available to you. Yes, the wine industry here in Canada, specifically in Ontario, is extremely young at just over 30 years. In a very short amount of time, we’ve risen to create some fabulous examples of what can be done here with local grapes. Our wines can stand proudly on the international stage, many with the medals to prove it!
The talented Andrzej Lipinski!

Ontario has four appellations, or grape growing regions:

Niagara Peninsula
The most well known and established grape growing region in the province.  This region is further subdivided into 10 sub-appellations each with a unique characteristic that comes out in the finished wine.
Prince Edward County
Ontario’s newest appellation. Cool climate with a foundation of rich limestone.
Lake Erie North Shore
With so much sunshine, it has ideal ripening conditions to make full bodied wine.

Pelee Island
Canada’s most southerly grape growing region and enjoys a long growing season.

Winter scene at Legends.

Although mostly known around the world for our icewine, we also produce some delicious still and sparkling wine. Wines from Ontario vary from elegant and complex to fruit forward and fun. Our wines showcase the location where the grapes were grown…our “terroir”.  That’s what wine is supposed to do –  represent the land it is from.

Harvest season.

What is terroir?
“The combination of location, soil, topography and climate – as having direct influence on both the character and quality of wine grapes” – www.vqaontario.com

Living in Toronto, I’m fortunate to be very close to the Niagara region. What makes this area so wonderful for grape growing is really two-fold: Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment.  The lake gathers warmth throughout the summer months. The breezes coming off the lake provide a constant flow of warmer air from the lakeshore to the base of the Escarpment. In the fall and going into winter, this warm air raises the land temperature. The growing season is extended and the vines don’t freeze during the cold months of winter. Did you know that the Escarpment was formed during the regions glacial history? This same glacial history is also what gives the region its complex soil compositions.

Thirty Bench.
 Grapes at Inniskillin.

Because of this unique growing area, certain grape varieties do very well here: Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir and Cabernet Franc.

These past two weekends I had the chance to partake in the iYellow Wine Club tours into one of the Ontario wine regions – Niagara. I usually go on my own but this was a great way to taste *a lot* of wines in one day. It’s harvest time and wine country is at its busiest! This is always the most exciting time for me. I wonder what harvest 2011 will bring? While the world anxiously awaits the delivery of the much talked about Bordeaux 2010 wines, I’m excited that the 2010 Ontario wines are starting to hit the shelves.

Ed from Flat Rock Cellars.

Chateau des Charmes.

It’s so important that we support our local producers to continue the growth of our industry. Did you know that Ontario has over 125 wineries? That number will only continue to grow. From larger production facilities to small boutique operations, we have many diverse wineries and wines.  I’ve met many passionate people in all aspects of the wine industry. From wine makers to wine agents. All of them have one thing to say – Ontario wine is only getting better each year!

Daniel Speck from  Henry of Pelham.

With the creation of, COVI (Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute) at Brock University, Ontario is recognized around the world for its research and development of cool climate wine making.

When you’re in the store searching for a new local Ontario wine to try, or reaching for your favourite, make sure that VQA is listed on the bottle. VQA stands for Vintners Quality Alliance and it ensures that 100% of the fruit in the wine that you’re buying is grown in Ontario and that it meets stringent quality standards. It ensures that what’s on the label is what’s in the bottle. Many bottles also now have a sticker on their neck that says “100% Grown by Grape Growers of Ontario“.

 I highly recommend making a trip out to one of our wine growing regions and discovering for yourself what makes Ontario wines so great! You won’t be disappointed!

Grape Growers of Ontario – The Watsons

It’s harvest time in Ontario! I spent the day in wine country this past weekend and seeing the vines full of ripe fruit made me so excited. What will the vintage of 2011 bring?  This is the time of year where everyone holds their breath, hoping that mother nature cooperates. Hopefully as harvest approaches, we will have that warm, dry weather that’s needed to bring this vintage to a close. Fingers and toes crossed.

My next post for the Grape Growers of Ontario series features Kevin Watson.  He runs K.J Watson Farms LTD in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  As a second generation grape grower, Kevin and his wife, Cathy, now have 80 acres with over 13 different vinifera (the most common wine vine) varieties. In the latest video, Kevin discusses what makes a good wine grape and how to tell when a grape is ripe. These are fitting topics as we head into the 2011 harvest season.

This video is filmed during the period called “veraison”. This is when the grapes start to turn colour as they mature and ripen. Did you notice in the video that Kevin was taking away the extra leaves off the vines? This is so that the grapes can get that much needed sunlight. If the vines have too much foliage, they don’t turn the energy to ripening the berries. If at veraison, certain clusters are lagging behind the rest, those clusters can be dropped to the ground so the vine can turn its energy into ripening the remaining clusters.  This is called “green harvest”.  Unripe berries can lead to unripe flavours in the finished wine. Sure, you’ll get a smaller crop in the end, but more flavourful fruit. Wine grapes are meant to be small. You don’t want big, fat and juicy grapes. Leave those for table grapes. Good wine comes from small berries. Good things do indeed come in small packages!

We all know that the main difference between red and white wine is of course, the skin. Red wine gets its colour from the the skins of the grapes. You can certainly make a white wine from red/purple/black grapes…just leave out the skins during the winemaking process. The grape skins can include a lot of the flavours that you might find in that particular varietal wine. If you pick a Syrah (Shiraz) grape off the vine, for example, the skin itself can exhibit black pepper flavours whereas GewĂĽrztraminer grape skins can be spicy. Neat!

Kevin Watson, 2007 “Grape King”
Each year the Grape Growers of Ontario award a grower as being the Grape King.
This recognition is for the best grape grower of the year.

As harvest approaches, how does a grower tell when to pick the grapes? Kevin talks about how he assesses the grape seed colour, texture and firmness. Ultimately, it’s the act of tasting the grapes that is usually the final indicator of when to pick. So now is the time when growers and winemakers walk between the vines, tasting the berries. When they call to pick, it’s a mad dash to get those grapes off the vines and into the winery to perform the magic!

Meet the growers and see the care that goes into growing the grapes that produce the Ontario wines you love at: www.facebook.com/grapegrowersofontario

That chardonnay is oh so cool…

Great venue

 A few weeks ago I attended the Discover Chardonnay tasting at the Roy Thompson Hall here in Toronto. It was to finish off the International Cool Climate Chardonnay celebration taking place over the weekend in the Niagara wine region. I was so excited about this event. I couldn’t make it out to wine country so I just let the wines of the world come to me.  I just love chardonnay. I know that there are many people who are very “ABC”: anything-but-chardonnay.

Well, I say to those ABCers: “try a cool climate chardonnay!”

I was eager and early
Ontario Represent!

So what’s the big deal with cool climate chardonnay? Well, usually when you say “chardonnay”, people often imagine a style of wine that’s super buttery, oaky with high alcohol. Sometimes, this style of wine can also be quite flabby. This style of wine penetrated the marketplace and gave the grape a bad rap. Bigger ain’t always better!  This type of wine will often come from a warmer climate where the grapes ripen sometimes too well. The riper the grape, the more sugar it will have. When sugar increases, acid decreases. Acidity is what gives wine it’s “zing!”…it’s liveliness.  Warmer climates sometimes have a harder time maintaining the acidity in their wines because, well, you guessed it – it gets too warm.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some wonderful chardonnays from warmer climates. There are some stellar examples in my wine rack. I’m just saying that we need to start looking at the cooler climates of the world to save chardonnay from being alphabetized…no more ABC!

My favourite sound – pop!

What is considered a cool climate? Many factors contribute to creating a climate that is considered cool:

latitude (how far north or south the location is from the equator)
altitude (how high up the vineyards are)
proximity to large body of water (water acts like thermal regulator)

Cool climate chardonnays really show their sense of “place”. They express where they were born and raised. Chardonnays coming from cooler climates are delicate, elegant and have wonderful minerality. They can be extremely refreshing (from that great acidity) and complex.

Candians make great wine!

It was great to see so many Ontario wineries represented.  I’m a huge advocate of Canadian wine. Specifically, Ontario wine. We have such wonderful “cool climate” factors for producing examples of yummy mineral-driven chardonnay:

Tawse
Lailey
Inniskillin
13th Street
Flat Rock Cellars
Angels Gate
Coyotes Run
Hillebrand
Closson Chase
Le Clos Jordanne

www.coolchardonnay.org/category/winery/canada

“Thirty Ontario wineries started the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Association – a not-for-profit group devoted to reinstating the dignity of chardonnay.” – http://www.coolchardonnay.org

www.coolchardonnay.org/category/winery/founding-member-wineries

I’m a lover of Ontario Chardonnay. I’ll shout it out loud! I did, however, taste some lovely Chardonnays from other parts of the world. Don’t hate me Ontario. My love affair with you will never be overshadowed.

Vie di Romans

This Italian Chardonnay was one my personal highlights of the tasting. It was spectacular. Too bad you can’t buy it anywhere yet!

“located within the DOC zone of Friuli Isonzo, in the most easternmost area of northern Italy, close to the Slovenian border. The Adriatic is barely 20 km (1243 miles) to the south, and the first slopes of the Alps about 30 km (1864 miles) to the north.”


Interesting read:
www.coolchardonnay.org/node/1038

I think Chardonnay is one cool grape. No more ABC! Unless it’s the Jackson 5. Enjoy!

Grape Growers of Ontario – the Funk Family

The second family featured by the Grape Growers of Ontario is the Funk family. What a cool name. I bet they’ve got the funk…for grapes! Ok ok, bad bad joke. What can I say, I love the music from the 1970s…especially funk!  đź™‚

Taking care of the vines

In this video, the Funk family discuss their favourite grape varieties to grow and how each grape variety has it’s own unique challenges. It must be such hard work to maintain a vineyard. Not only are you at mercy of the weather but you have to fight off all types of pests and diseases that could potentially ruin your crop. I have such respect for grape growers. It certainly isn’t for the faint of heart! I completely agree with the statement that you need good quality grapes to produce good quality wine. I guess you could say that wine making starts in the vineyard!

The Funk family discuss one of the elements that they (as well as other Ontario grape growers) fight with in their vineyard – humidity. Anyone living here in Ontario know that we have lots of humidity. Why is humidity so bad for a vineyard? Too much of it promotes disease and mildew. The vineyard climate has so much to do with the overall health and quality of the grapes which I’ll say again, has so much to do with the quality of the finished wine. You can’t make good wine from bad grapes!

From the Grape Growers of Ontario website:

Great wine starts in the vineyard.
The Funk Family

Doug Funk, his son Doug Jr, and his brother Randy tend the family vineyards in Niagara, Ontario.

Having grown up on a fruit farm, working in the vineyards with their grandfather and uncles, the Funk family knows that good wine starts with good quality grapes.    The Grape Growers of Ontario invite you to meet our growers and watch the vineyards mature throughout the season.  In our latest video, the Funks walk you through their Riesling vineyards when they are in mid bloom. 

www.grapegrowersofontario.com

Check out Grape Growers of Ontario on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/Grapegrowersofontario

Now let’s get funky!

Cool Chardonnay

ABC. Not only are these the first three letters in the English alphabet, these three letters also signify  a horrible acronym meaning “Anything but chardonnay”. It’s time to rid the wine world of this “ABC” attitude and change it to mean “All about chardonnay”. Wait, wouldn’t that be AAC?

Why has chardonnay gotten such a bad rap? Well, I think it’s because the market has been saturated with so much bad chardonnay that it’s given the grape a bad name. Lots of overly oaked, flabby wine has deceived the public that this is the only style of wine that this grape can make. Totally not true! I myself am a HUGE lover of chardonnay.   Like our friendly grape – Riesling, Chardonnay can really show off it’s “terroir” – that is, it’s sense of place…where it comes from….it’s expression of the land. It’s such a versatile grape that can be made into many different styles.

“It’s time for the re-birth of Cool…”  – www.coolchardonnay.org

“Not all chardonnay is created equal. Add in a bit of cool â€“ cool by altitude, by latitude, by marine influence or by climatic conditions – and you have an entirely different experience. Chardonnay vines that are grown in cool climates and encouraged to allow asense of place to shine through can produce a wine that is balanced, refreshing, complex and elegant. And when done right…cool climate chardonnay can be a magical wine. ” –  www.coolchardonnay.org

The weekend of July 22-24, Niagara wine country is having a Cool Climate Chardonnay celebration and we’re all invited! For three days, many of the wineries are going to have various events from parties, lunches to tastings. Sunday July 24, in Toronto, LCBO Vintages will be hosting a large tasting at Roy Thompson Hall. For three hours you can walk around and taste cool climate chardonnays from all over the world.  It’s expensive at $95 per ticket, but it should be a great tasting. See my “hint” at the end of this post to get cheaper tickets.

“Thirty Ontario wineries started the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Association – a not-for-profit group devoted to reinstating the dignity of chardonnay. The i4c is a “coming together” of the finest examples of cool climate chardonnay in the world – a casual but in-depth weekend celebration of wine, food and learning, with an eye to reinvigorating a seriously cool wine.” –  www.coolchardonnay.org

If you want to go to the tasting at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, visit this site to purchase cheaper tickets:
www.coolchardonnay.org/content/blend-your-own-chardonnay-celebration

Grape Growers of Ontario

The Grape Growers of Ontario association is launching a campaign to introduce the grape growers to us, the consumer. The passion and dedication of these growers is helping fuel our growing wine industry. It’s important to know who they are and what they do. We should be proud of our wines and the people behind them. When I tell people from other countries that Canada makes wine, their eyes open wide and they ask “Really? Canada makes wine?”.  I eagerly respond, “We do and it’s delicious!”.

Yes our winters here in Ontario are harsh but what makes successful wine production possible is the proximity of the vineyards to large bodies of water – the great lakes. The wine growing areas of Ontario are near Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The lake acts as a temperature regulator.

This is Debra Marshall. Her and her husband, Thomas, grow Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir grapes on 10 acres of land in Prince Edward County. They own and run Robert Thomas Estate Vineyards and Winery Inc. in Cherry Valley, Ontario. The farm has been in Debra’s family for four generations. In the video she says that her favourite wine to drink is pinot noir. That’s one of mine too. I love her quote: “I figured if I planted what I loved to drink myself, I would take very good care of it”.

Thomas and Debra Marshall, grape growers

Prince Edward County  (“The County”), is Ontario’s newest wine growing region. It was officially established as a wine appellation in 2007. Only 2.5 hours from Toronto, it’s a beautiful picturesque, rustic destination.  If you’ve been to the Niagara wine region, The County is quite different. The region is the most northerly wine growing area in Ontario. The wines show the minerality from all that limestone in the soil.  I highly recommend visiting and of course, sampling the wines.  Prince Edward County specializes in cool climate grape growing. Common varietals are chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet franc.

Grape Growers of Ontario:
www.grapegrowersofontario.com

“Like” The Grape Growers of Ontario on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/Grapegrowersofontario

Prince Edward County Wine Region, including information about the wineries:
www.thecountywines.com

For more information about the Prince Edward County Appellation:
www.vqaontario.ca/Appellations/PrinceEdwardCounty

A great site about the Ontario wine regions:
www.winecountryontario.ca